AN: KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON KATIE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON (ps sorry about the glitch earlier. And sorry for what is about to happen)

Little by little, things started to get better. Brenner began to become sloppier, and pretty soon they had a few dozen sitting of him at health centres in and around Missouri. He was getting older, and his heart was failing him. Hopper developed friends in higher places, and he managed to collect some information about Brenner's project, albeit very little.

As their leads increased and grew stronger, so did El's spirits. She became more talkative again, and even ate eggos again; something she hadn't done in 3 years. Seeing her happy once more warmed Mike's heart, and dragged him out from a deep pit depression which he'd been suffering alone with ever since November 13th, 1995. They were becoming stronger. They were gaining hope.

"I know where he's gonna be!" El cried, bursting into the kitchen with a heap a papers in her hand, waving them about frantically. "What?" Mike said, jumping up from his seat at the counter and effectively spilling coffee everywhere. Not that either of them noticed. "Brenner! Hopper showed me some of his leads, and a few of the names looked familiar. They were the people he was working with, Mike! I did a little more digging into them. They all've met up with Brenner a few times in the past couple of months. And guess what? They've all conveniently booked into the same hotel in Missouri! Sure, they aren't all in and out on the same days, but they're not stupid." Mike tried to keep a calm face as he poured a glass of water, took El by the shoulders, sat her down and handed the drink to her. She was bright red and flustered. But it was as a hard feat. This was the most information they'd got, ever! "When's he gonna be there?"

"…December 19th."

Mike froze, memories flashing back to him. December 19th. 6 days before Christmas. The day of the Thessalhydra attack and his abduction and… Steve. Since they'd found out what happened to Steve. Pushing these memories aside, he turned to El. "Then we better starting packing. We've got a plane to catch."

The flight to Missouri was uneventful as one could get, a stark contrast to what would happen in a couple of days. El was still a little wary of being in the air, just as she had been the first (and until that day, last) time she'd been on a plane. Mike found this hilarious. Here was a girl with extraordinary- and to some, terrifying- powers, scared of something as simple as flying. Dustin had exclaimed all those years ago that a superhero with her powers wouldn't be scared of it, and Mike'd stopped himself from slapping him there on the spot. Because she wasn't a superhero. Sure, she had superpowers, and yes, she had been a hero more than a few times, but she wasn't a superhero. She was just a girl with a fucked up past, the girl he'd fallen hopelessly in love with at the age of 12, a girl who just needed to be taught the ways of the world. His El.

If one was to pass by Hotel Phillips, they wouldn't suspect anything out of the ordinary. In fact, if you went past room 401 on the fourth floor, nothing would seem strange at all. However, upon entering the room, things would start to seem stranger [;)]. Papers, newspaper clipping, photographs, evidence collected from all over the globe was scattered across the room and pinned onto the walls. Radios and bats and guns are stashed into drawers and under the mattress. The occupants of the room are planning to confront the man who stole their child, both having faced an inter dimensional monster as a child. Indeed, room 401 of Hotel Phillips is far from normal.

From their spot across the street for the hotel lobby, El would jump every time she saw a man with white hair, only to wilt a little after realising that, no, it wasn't him. They'd been parked there since 3am, and it was now coming on 6am. Needless to say, she was coming abit restless. So when she did see the right msn, her (thankfully cold) coffee went flying over Mike, startling him awake. Brenner walked the short distance from the lobby to the black car waiting for him, hand in hand with a boy of about 6. El's breath caught, a small whisper escaping her lips. "Benny…". It would've been so easy to kill Brenner right there. A small twitch of her neck, and the bastard would be dead. But she couldn't. Not there. Not in public. And not with Benny there to see it. She didn't want him to witness the death of his father-figure, no matter how much of a manipulating sociopath he was. So she just sat and watched, foot on the ignition and hand gripping the wheel, as her son was drove away yet again.

8am in the morning, El and Mike found themselves sat on a park bench outside of the One Kansas City Place, as Brenner entered with Benny by his side. El stood, and, without being seen, began to walk inside the building. Mike followed minutes later.

"Now 12, wait right here." Brenner said to the boy, his voice cool against the tile walls. "I'll be right back."

"Yes Papa." Replied 12, as Papa left the room, the metal door locking behind him. It was silent in the room, save for the slight humming from the AC. Well, it was, until the locks in the door. The metal swung open, revealing a young woman with a slight trickle of blood coming from her left nostril. She slowly came towards 12, and he backed up in fear. "H-h-who a-are you?"

"I'm your mother, Benny."

12 stood in shock. He'd always wondered about his mother (the people in the fairytales usually had Papas and Mamas), but decided not to bring it up to Papa. It seemed like one of the things he would get mad about. "My name isn't B-Benny. It's t-t-t-twelve." He pulled his shirt sleeve up, revealing a 012 tattoo on his forearm. The woman nodded, kneeling down in front of him, wiping tears from her eyes and showing him her own tattoo. "011…".

She smiled. "Yeah, 11. That was what your Papa called me when I was a child. He was my Papa too. But he isn't good, 12. He took you away from me when you were just a baby." Now 12 was intrigued. "Did he… take you? Too?" Again, she nodded. "Except no one knew I'd been taken. We've all been searching for you." She quickly grasped his hand. "We have to go now, 12. You can trust me, I promise."

"What is… promise?" The woman – his mother, smiled. "A promise is something you can't break. Ever." 12 thought for a moment, then quickly nodded. Knowing that he had a real family, that Papa was indeed bad, filled him with a certain warmth, which amplified as the woman took his hand. It was as if he felt he finally belonged.

As they walked through corridor after corridor, his mother told 12 of what was to happen. "I'm going to take you to a man named Mike. He's your father. Don't worry, you can trust him. Mike is so, so good. He found me when I ran away from Papa. He gave me happiness and warmth and a home. We're going to give you those things, too. Mike will be with some other people. There'll be… Hopper. He's my dad. Your grandfather. He might look a little scary, but he's good too. Then Jonathan and Nancy might be there. Jonathan is my big brother, and Nancy is Mike's big sister, but she was always like my sister, too. I'll have to go for a little while, there's something I need to do. But Mike and the others will make sure you're safe." By now they reached the lobby, and the woman quickly walked over to a man. "Mike!" The man saw her and rushed towards her, wrapping her in a hug, before looking towards 12. It was like that for a moment, before 12 spoke. "…Dad?" With that, Mike knelt down and hugged 12. At first he flinched at the contact, but after a moment he hugged back, liking the warmth he was wrapped in. His mother had been right about that. Mike was full of warmth and so, so good.

When they finally pulled apart, El bent down and hugged Benny too, placing a kiss on his forehead. "I love you, Benny."she whispered. It sounded like a goodbye. "I love you too, mommy." She then stood up and looked to Mike. "…El?"

"I have to get him, Mike."

Tears started pouring down Mike's cheeks. "No you don't! We have Benny back! Please." His voice was desperate now. "Please don't leave me again." El wrapped her arms around his neck, her own tears falling into his shoulder. "This won't be the last time you see me. I promise." Mike nodded reluctantly.

"Okay." With that, El turned and walked back towards the corridor. Mike threw one last glance to her, before taking Benny's hand and going outside where Hopper, Jonathan and Nancy were waiting.

"Brenner." A slick, cold voice bounced from the metal walls, and Martin turned towards the body from which it came from. "Subject Eleven, so nice of you to stop by."

Eleven telekinetically threw him against the wall with a great force. So great, in fact, that the walls started trembling, and cracks grew against the roof. The building was going to fall. Quickly, she used her powers to hold the walls together as outside, people began to evacuate. "Now now, Eleven. Look what you've done." She pinned him against the wall this time, straining herself as she struggled to do both tasks. "You can't kill me and keep this building together. You know it. So how about you just let me go? Because if this building collapses, you'll be killing the both of us." El smirked, memories flooding her head, and reality dawned on his face. "To die," she whispered "would be an awfully big adventure."

"ELEVEN NO!" Mike screamed, struggling against Hopper's firm grip as the tower crumbled to the floor. It was all to familiar. It was like events were repeating themselves from 18 years earlier. Eventually, the chunks of concrete stopped falling and the dust settled. Mike broke free of Jim's grasp and sprinted off, searching through the rubble and debris. "EL?EL? ELEVEN WHERE ARE YOU?" He saw brown hair against a slab of rock, and immediately scrambled over. "EL? EL!"

"Mike…". He wiped tears from his eyes and clasped her hand tight.

"Don't worry El. This'll all be over soon. We're gonna get you out of here. You're gonna be okay." She shook her head, tears streaming down her face and mixing with the blood pouring from her nose. She placed a hand over her midsection, wincing in pain, and Mike finally forced himself to finally look. A large piece of metal framing pierced through her stomach, blood rolling like a stream from the wound. They both knew; she wasn't going to get out of this. "Hey Mike?"

He sniffled. "Yeah El?"

"Sing for me?" He almost laughed. She'd always been the better singer of the pair, a song accompanying her almost wherever she was. The prospect of him singing would normally be absurd. But now. Now was different. He thought for a moment, before beginning to sing.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine."

El smiled up at Mike, studying his freckles like they were constellations in the night sky. It wasn't the first time, but she wanted to cherish her last.

"You make me happy when skies are grey."

Sighing, she closed her eyes, smiling, and let herself succumb to the dark, never ending sleep.

"You'll never know dear, how much I love you."

Mike bent his head over her lifeless body and placed a kiss on her forehead, his own tears falling onto her skin.

"Please don't take, my sunshine, away."

THE END